Title: Content Director
Contact: 605-937-9398 / bart.pfankuch@sdnewswatch.org
Language spoken: English
Demographic expertise: South Dakota, including the Rapid City area, the Black Hills, rural towns and reservations
Topic expertise: agriculture, state government, education, rural issues, Indigenous people, poverty
Potential conflict of interest: Pfankuch serves on the board of the Oyate Prevention Coalition in Rapid City, which works to prevent substance abuse among Native American youth. He will recuse himself from reporting on the organization.
Biography: Pfankuch (pronounced FAN-cook) is Wisconsin native and former editor of the Rapid City Journal. He has worked for more than 30 years as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Wisconsin, Florida and South Dakota, including as reporter or editor at the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram and Capital Times in Wisconsin, and at the Florida Times-Union and Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida. He also is a syndicated writing coach who has presented at newspaper conferences across the country. Pfankuch has won more than four dozen state, regional and national journalism awards, including, while at News Watch, agricultural writer of the year from the North American Agricultural Journalists association in 2020, 2021 and 2023 as well as first-place reporting awards in the Great Plains Journalism Awards sponsored by the Tulsa Press Club and South Dakota NewsMedia Association. Pfankuch lives in Black Hawk.
Professional memberships: Investigative Reporters and Editors, North American Agricultural Journalists, South Dakota NewsMedia First Amendment Committee
Social platforms: X/Twitter; LinkedIn
Archive of work: South Dakota News Watch
Bart Pfankuch
Total 337 Posts
Preparations for legalization of pot picking up pace in Pierre
After a slow start in 2021, South Dakota lawmakers and state officials are taking increasingly aggressive steps toward building a framework for the growing, packaging, selling, taxation and use of legal medical and recreational marijuana in the state.
A major piece of legislation was filed Feb. 3 that sets the
Rob Joyce named executive director of South Dakota News Watch
South Dakota News Watch, the state’s only non-profit statewide journalism organization, has appointed veteran administrator Robert “Rob” Joyce of Sioux Falls as its new executive director effective Feb. 1, 2021.
Joyce will replace outgoing executive director David Bordewyk, who served in the role for 15 months and is returning
COVID antibody treatment available and effective but delivery slower than desired in SD
A relatively new medical treatment that can reduce symptoms, speed recovery and even prevent death due to COVID-19 in some patients is widely available across the U.S. and South Dakota but is not being used as much as health officials and medical providers would like.
Only about 30% to
Questions remain for who qualifies next to get COVID-19 vaccine in SD
South Dakota health officials and medical providers have been near the top of the nation in administering COVID-19 vaccines as they become available, but a significant new challenge awaits as the state moves into a much larger, more difficult-to-define population of people who may qualify for a shot.
That upcoming
Colleges part 4: How one SD college used pandemic funds to improve education
While most colleges across the country were stung hard by COVID-19 — logistically and financially — the small private college that serves mostly Native American students on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota got a big boost from the pandemic.
Like the reservation itself, the Oglala Lakota College in
Colleges part 3: Students cross hurdles while learning during a pandemic
As part of its in-depth look at the state of higher education in the state, South Dakota News Watch made contact with students who experienced learning during a pandemic close up.
Here are three of their stories.
Making frugal financial choices
Sydney Becker, 19, is a graduate of Lincoln High
Colleges part 2: Pandemic puts college degree out of reach for more South Dakotans
The COVID-19 pandemic has further lowered the ability of low-income and minority students in South Dakota, including Native Americans, to enroll in college, obtain a degree and gain the lifelong financial and upward mobility benefits that come with higher education.
Education experts in South Dakota and around the country are